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August 18, 2006

Iraqi group uses Michael Moore film to mock Bush

by Sam Savage

By Alister Bull

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi militant group has produced an
elaborate video of what it said were attacks on U.S. troops, in
the latest example of the increasingly sophisticated propaganda
war being waged by Iraqi insurgents.

"The Code of Silence" was posted on the Internet by the
Rashedeen Army, thought to be a relatively small Sunni group
which has produced videos in the past of attacks it claims to
have carried out.

At almost an hour in length, it is the longest and most
professionally made of recent postings by mainly Sunni militant
and insurgent groups fighting the U.S.-backed government.

The U.S. military said earlier this week that recent
intelligence indicated al Qaeda in Iraq was refining its
strategy by producing propaganda and adding a political base to
its violent campaign of suicide bombings.

Lifting scenes from Michael Moore's anti-war film
"Fahrenheit 9/11," Rashedeen's narrator taunts President Bush
in softly spoken English over graphic images of Humvees being
blown up by roadside bombs, and purportedly dead U.S. troops.

It was not possible to verify when the documentary was made
or the authenticity of any of the images portrayed by
Rashedeen, whose name means Army of the Rightly Guided.

At one point, the documentary cuts to a scene from Moore's
2004 award-winning film where he lobbies on the steps of the
U.S. Congress in Washington.

"After all, there are honest and influential guys in
America and if Mr Moore can talk to you like that, so can I,"
the Rashedeen narrator says.

In addition to numerous bomb and rocket attacks, the
documentary also shows two militants painstakingly drilling a
hole into an old artillery shell, turning it into a homemade
bomb and then burying it to create a deadly trap.

"In the good old days of the invasion, this used to be a
one-man show. Not any more. Your boys have become smart. They
started to ambush us. Today it takes a big unit.

"That's good. It means your boys are on the run all day
long, seven days a week. And it is really devastating for them,
especially if they are on their third tour and don't have our
secret weapon -- patience."